Modi's Raw Powerlifting Log

Training Training Logs
101

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
just another gear whore pretending to do it RAW. without all that equipment, you are weak.

try it without the belt and wraps. everyone knows that a belt and wraps give you 100’s of pounds of help.

plus your lower back and abs are surely underdeveloped from using that belt.

i don’t even wear a supportive jock when i lift.

free ball’n…[/quote]

It depends on the specific lift, but in general I get at least 200lbs out of the belt alone. Wrist wraps are good for another 100lbs, and the neoprene sleeves are good for 50lbs each as well. Basically, I’m just there to steady the bar, the equipment does the rest.

I’m not really sure about the whole abs thing…I’m sure there under there somewhere. :wink:

102

BW=272.3lbs

09/20/08 - Shoulders (RE)

A) Seated Shoulder Press
barx12
135x5
135x5
185x5
225x6
225x3 (lost bar out in front)
185x12 (PR +10lbs or +2 reps)
185x8
135x10 (one and a half’s)

B) Incline Press (bottom 3/4 range)
135x10
185x8 (middle finger on rings)
185x10 (pinky on rings)
185x12 (2" inside rings)

C1) JM Press
95x10
115x10
135x10
155x10 (PR +2 reps)

C2) Straight Bar Curl
95x10
115x10
135x10
155x10 (HSSWT - High School Swinging Weight Technique)

D) Plate Raise
25lbsx50

My traps have been fried since Thursdays Elevated Deads. Because of that, I felt a little unsteady on the heavier Shoulder Presses, and lost the second set out in front of me. I decided to drop the weight and clean it up.

I also decided to do some partials, one and a half’s on Shoulder Press, and then some 3/4 reps on the Incline Press. I was just looking to feel it more in the Delts/Pecs than work on the lockout stuff.

The superset felt good, 155 was way too heavy for the curls today, so I reverted back to the old swining the weight and grunting like an ass technique. Due to the amount of low back involvement, this probably would have been better on my DL day, but I had to make the pyramid look good, so I wasn’t about to strip any weight. Luckily I did this in my basement, and didn’t film it, so it didn’t really happen.

103

09/22/08 - Squat (ME)

A) 13" Box Squat
…
385x1
425x5 (PR +20lbs)
405x5
405x5

B) Front Squats Paused on Pin #11
275x1
315x1
345x2 (quit on 3)

C) Pullups (Wide Overhand)
6x4

D) Getto T-Bar Rows
90x6
180x6
270x1
180x6x2

D2) Standing Band Crunches
Purplex15
Greenx12x3

My right hip flexor felt like it was going to pop on the first 2 warmup sets, and then on the third it was completely fine, and didn’t bother me for the rest of the day. Warmups felt light and explosive, so I knew I had a good PR in me. 425 went up nicely, and there was probably another 5-10lbs left in the tank. I dropped back to 405 and hit a couple more sets. The last set was pretty taxing, and it took it’s toll on Front Squats.

I just took a couple of easy singles to get used to the bar on my chest, and then went for a 10lb PR on Front Squats. The second rep was tough, and I think I let my mind wander. I let out my breath at the bottom of the third rep, and couldn’t even get in a decent breath for the attempt. That was enough Squatting for the day.

First time doing Ghetto T-Bar Rows at home. I didn’t have anything to hold the other end of the bar in place (had it wedged in the corner of the basement), and with 6 plates, the bar came flying out of the corner and damned near smacked me in the ass. I seem to recall seeing a video of Meat doing this as well. I backed off to 4 plates and just powered them up, and controlled them on the way down. Need to find a better setup for these.

Good day today. Very happy with a 20lb PR, since I just set my old PR 6 weeks ago.

104

After a week of the Plague, and a week of no lifting, I’m back. I had an upper respiratory thing, and didn’t have the energy or strength to train at all. I basically hibernated for the whole week, and today I felt like 80% going into it.

09/29/08 - Squat (ME)

A) 13" Box Squat
…
365x1
405x1
455x3 (PR +20lbs)
425x3
425x3

B) Front Squats Paused on Pin #11
275x1
315x1
345x3 (PR +10lbs or +1 rep)
315x3
315x3

2 hours later…

C1) Seated Row (wide parallel grip)
80x6 (paused)
100x6 (“)
120x6 (”)
140x6 (“)
160x6 (not paused)
180x6 (”)
200x6 (cheated)

C2) Lat Pulldown (wide overhand grip)
80x6
100x6
120x6
140x6
160x6
180x6 (cheated)
200x6 (")

D) Decline Situps
25lbx10
50lbx8x2

I certainly didn’t feel 100% going into this lift, but after a little warming up, I got there mentally.

Another solid Box Squat PR, and still had some left in the tank.

I’m still pausing the Front Squats on the Pins. Hopefully this has some carryover to my DL as well. I gave up on 345 last week, so I wasn’t about to give up again. The third rep was harder than it looks.

I was cut short on time again, so I finished up my training a couple hours later, and supersetted Paused Seated Rows with Lat Pulldowns. I did the lighter weights very strict, and then added in enough of a cheat to get the reps. My lats are fried right now. Good stuff.

Very happy with the way my Squats are going. I’m looking forward to competing in December and breaking some meet PR’s.

105

09/29/08 - GPP

ARC Trainer - 25 min
5 min - 30sec Intervals L25/35-55
5 min - Steady L25
5 min - 30sec Intervals L25/35-55
5 min - Steady L25
5 min - 30sec Intervals L25/35-60

106

two questions:
what did u make ur box out of (looking to make one like that) and how did u do it

2, where di u get the knee sleeves and do they help.

107

[quote]bignate wrote:
two questions:
what did u make ur box out of (looking to make one like that) and how did u do it

2, where di u get the knee sleeves and do they help.[/quote]

I made the box with a 2x4 frame, and then attached 3/4" plywood to all sides using wood screws. I’ll take a picture of the inside next time I get a chance.

I also made a base for it, so I can use it as a 12" or 13 1/2" box, and I have a bunch of pieces of rubber flooring to get my heights in between. The box I used today was 12" with another 1" worth of rubber on top. You don’t need to get that fancy with the base though.

I got the knee sleeves from Jackal’s Gym:

www.jackalsgym.com/store.aspx?cat_id=RH

They are made by Rehband. The blue one’s are the old model and are a little thicker (7mm) than the new ones (5mm). They really keep my knees warm, and I haven’t had any knee issues since I started wearing them. The elbow sleeves are the same brand, just the 5mm version, and I wear the elbow sleeves for both Squatting and Benching. I think it’s a great investment that will save you a ton of wear and tear on the joints.

108

any way to get them for 30$ a apair?

109

[quote]bignate wrote:
any way to get them for 30$ a apair?[/quote]

There are plenty of cheaper versions out there that would do the trick. The Rehband’s are expensive because they are well made, and will last a long time. A cheaper brand should still keep your knees warm, but the stitching will probably come apart with heavy use.

110

[quote]bignate wrote:
two questions:
what did u make ur box out of (looking to make one like that) and how did u do it
[/quote]

Ok, here’s a picture of the inside of my box. I made it heavy duty, since I was planning on sitting my 270lb ass loaded up with 500+lbs on it. I’d rather err on the side of caution, and 2x4’s are pretty much dirt cheap (less than $2 for an 8’ section).

The box is 18"deep x18"wide x12"high.

I basically made two frames out of 2x4 that are 16 1/2" squares, and connected them together with four 11 1/4" 2x4’s. The reason the measurements are odd sized is because you will attach 3/4" thick plywood to the outside of the box to make it structurally sound. So you are adding 3/4"+3/4"=1 1/2" to the width of the box and 3/4" to the height.

I cut 8 lengths of 2x4 to 16 1/2" long and cut them at a 45 degree angle to miter the corners. This is a bit fancy, and you could simply cut 4 pieces to 16 1/2" long and 4 pieces to 13" long, and make your boxes using two of the long pieces and two of the short pieces for each frame.

I then added one additional section of 2x4 cut to 13" in the middle of the top frame, and screwed everything together with 2 1/2" drywall screws. Make sure to measure your plywood to the correct size, and add in enough for the thickness of the plywood. The most common mistake when making a box is assuming that all the pieces will be the same size, and coming up short on two sides because of the wood thickness.

If you have any woodworking experience, it shouldn’t be that tough. If not, just find someone with a table saw, and they should be able to help you out.

111

10/01/08 - Bench (ME)

A) Flat Bench (paused)
…
275x1
315x1
345x1
380x0
…no pause
365x1x3

B) Decline Bench
185x40 (baseline PR)

C) Rack Lockouts (Pin #9 - 4" off chest)
315x8 (PR +2 reps)
315x4

Shitty day, lot’s of excuses, blah blah blah.

I didn’t feel strong going into today’s session, and I forgot to even pause the 380 (which would have been a 5lb PR), not that it mattered since it stalled about 3" off my chest. I took a few singles at 365 without a pause, and even those felt heavy and slow.

I decided to switch up my high rep set since it was getting stale. 185 was fast, and fatigue didn’t really start to set in until around 35 reps. I’ll use this as my baseline PR.

I needed to walk away with a real PR of some sort, and decided to use Rack Lockouts (or Pin Presses), from 4" off my chest. I tied my old PR easily, and the seventh rep was good as well. The eight went up nicely until about an inch from lockout, and I ground it out from there. I think I lost my focus when I got it most of the way up, and considered it automatic, and didn’t give it 100% until it stalled.

I’m chalking today up to the fact that I’m still recovering from a bad cold, and haven’t benched in 2 weeks. We’ll see how it goes next week.

112

is it normal to be able to press 100 pnd db overhead with one arm on ur first time?

thanks for the box info very nice

113

[quote]bignate wrote:
is it normal to be able to press 100 pnd db overhead with one arm on ur first time?

thanks for the box info very nice[/quote]

I’ve actually never tried it. I guess it would depend on how strict you had to be. Most of the attempts I’ve seen are a jerk press, with a lot of body lean.

I would think I could do it without much of a problem, and it would be my first time, but I’ve been training for quite some time, so I have the strength from doing other movements. If someone were fairly new to lifting, then it would be a hell of a feat.

I was at a seminar earlier this year, and Jim Wendler was shooting the shit, and said that he had just done some crazy heavy kettle bell snatch for the first time, the night before the seminar, and everyone ooed and aahhhed, and he asked if everyone thought that it was impressive, because he sure as hell hadn’t gotten good at kettle bell pressing by doing kettle bell presses. He was just damned strong, and able to move a weight that most people couldn’t fathom, and he hadn’t even trained to do it. A little off topic, but you get the point. If you’ve developed the raw strength through other movements, then pressing 100lbs overhead probably isn’t that challenging. If you started with a 20lb DB and spent all your time trying to get good at it, then maybe it is more impressive. I’m not really sure, and since my ceilings are only a hair over 7’ tall, I’m not about to try.

Why do you ask?

114

it was the heaviest dumbells we had at school and i didnt lean just a little jerk, wondering what the record are for, thought i should start doing it for strongman :slight_smile:

115

10/02/08 - Deadlift (ME)

A) Elevated Pulls from 14" Box
…
405x3
495x1
585x1
635x1 (PR +20lbs)
685x1 (PR +70lbs)
735x1 (PR +120lbs)

B) Pendlay Rows
225x6
275x6
315x8 (PR +40lbs or +2 reps)
315x8
315x8

C) GHR
x3 (pain in right lower back)

D) 45 Degree Hypers
10x3

I think two things happened recently…First, I am getting much more comfortable with using a belt on my DL’s. It used to make my lifts worse, but now it seems to be giving me a ton of help. Second, after pulling 855 from nut high a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I was capable of locking out some weights that I didn’t realize was possible.

8 or 10 weeks ago I set a baseline PR of 615x1 off the 14" box, I thought I’d be able to get a lot more than that 615, but it was a struggle. So I stayed with the same weight, simply lowering the box by 2" each week. Since working on my lockout for the last couple of months, I’ve made some serious improvement, hopefully this will still be true as the box height drops.

I threw 635 on for a 20lb PR and it felt like a joke. I had to go back and make sure I had all the plats on the bar. I loaded up 685 and that was smooth as butter. 735 was heavy, but a solid rep. If I warmed up smarter, I think I’m good for 750+ from this height.

I carried the momentum with Pendlay Rows. I didn’t even bother to look at my PR’s, I just amped up and started ripping the bar off the floor. When I looked up the record, I was pleased to see a 40lb PR or +2 reps.

The only bummer was that I felt a twinge in my low back while doing GHR’s. It’s the same nagging pain that comes aroune every few weeks, and the real culprit was demonstrating how not to Deadlift at 6am. I was completely cold, and I was showing someone what happens when they try to pull the bar from the floor, if the bar is too far out in front of your toes. I felt the twinge then, but ignored it. Nothing serious…It will be gone by Monday’s Squats, so I’m not too concerned

116

This weekend could be a little scattered, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to train tomorrow morning, so I snuck this lift in this morning. It wasn’t ideal since I benched on Wednesday, but I didn’t want to skip it or rush it this weekend.

10/03/08 - Shoulders (KOME/RE)

A) Overhead Lockouts (Pin #19 - top of forehead)
135x8
185x5
225x3
275x3 (baseline PR)
275x2 (missed it out in front)
275x3

B) DB Shoulder Press
60x10
80x10
100x6
100x6
100x1 - abort
50x30 (baseline PR)

C) Rope Pushdowns
50x10
60x10
70x8x3

D) GHR’s (cuz I pussed out yesterday)
6x3

My plan was to go 3x3 on the Overhead Lockouts, but on the second set I got the last rep out in front of me a bit, and after grinding at it for a couple of seconds, I set it down. Third set was solid.

I haven’t done any DB work lately because I hate the adjustable Oly DB’s. They are a pain in the ass to load, awkward as hell, and they don’t have a very solid feel to them. First two sets with the 100’s felt great, but I got the DB’s out in front of me again on the the third set, and my shoulder felt ‘funky’. I dropped down to the 50’s and repped out a quick set of 30. Shoulder felt fine.

My back felt fine today, so I finished with the GHR’s that I didn’t do yesterday. I didn’t go overboard because I am Squatting on Monday.

117

We have nearly identical deadlift form. Good shit as always.

118

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
We have nearly identical deadlift form. Good shit as always.[/quote]

Thanks man. I think I rely too much on my low back strength, especially with a true max effort lift. I’ve been working on my glute/ham strength a lot, so maybe it’s paying off.

I’ll find out one way or another in early December at my next meet.

119

I’m the same way. I can pull 80% of my max with perfect form, but above that it starts getting uglier and uglier because my hips rise faster and faster. I’ve tried to fix it alot, and it has gotten way better but still not great.

Of course, then you watch Konstantinovs pull 800 for 6 reps with DW form and you wonder why you even try :slight_smile:

120

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
I’m the same way. I can pull 80% of my max with perfect form, but above that it starts getting uglier and uglier because my hips rise faster and faster. I’ve tried to fix it alot, and it has gotten way better but still not great.
[/quote]

Well, at least we aren’t getting rated for style points. The russian judges would be brutal on artistic interpretation… :wink: